Vitamin B12 - Tinnitus, Inner Ear Disorders & Hearing Loss

Researchers from the Institute for Noise Hazards Research and Evoked Potentials Laboratory at Chaim-Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan and from Tel Aviv University, both in Israel, looked at a group of 385 people with tinnitus and found that 36 to 47 percent suffered from vitamin B12 deficiency.

All of the people low in B12 received injections of 1,000 micrograms weekly for four to six months. At the end of that time, their hearing and tinnitus were evaluated.

Fifty-four percent reported improvement in their tinnitus, and approximately one-fourth reported reductions in the measured loudness of their tinnitus, according to Joseph Attias, D.Sc., head of the institute and one of the study's main researchers.

"Vitamin B12 deficiency is somehow associated with chronic tinnitus," says Dr. Attias. "Long-term exposure to noise may deplete body levels of Vitamin B12 and so make the ears more vulnerable to noise-induced damage."

Most of the people in this study had tinnitus for six years or longer.

"It's possible that people who are treated earlier for Vitamin B12 deficiency may have more improvement in their tinnitus than occurred in this study," says Dr. Attias.

The tinnitus was reduced significantly by an average of 39% and completely cured in 27% of cases.

Vitamin B12, for that reason, may be recommended as a treatment that is effective for the treatment of inner ear hearing loss."

Short of an accident, there are few faster ways to short-circuit your body than bypassing vitamin B12. That's because B12 which is also called cobalamin, is vital to the production of myelin, the fatty sheath that insulates nerve fibers, keeping electrical impulses moving through your body.

Because of the nutrient's important nerve-protecting function, a whole host of problems have been linked to low levels of vitamin B12, including memory loss, confusion, delusion, fatigue, loss of balance, decreased reflexes, impaired touch or pain perception, numbness and tingling in the arms and legs, tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss.

Deficiencies of B12 have also been linked to multiple sclerosis-like symptoms and dementia. "In a severe deficiency, there is actually a degeneration of the myelin sheath. The stuff begins to literally erode," says John Pinto, Ph.D., director of the nutrition research laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and associate professor of biochemistry in medicine at Cornell University Medical College, both in New York City.

But that's only the beginning of vitamin B12's importance. Researchers have discovered that a deficiency raises blood levels of a substance known as homocysteine.

In addition to being toxic to brain cells in high doses--raising serious questions about its possible role in Alzheimer's disease--homocysteine may be one of the primary causes of heart disease. "It has been shown to activate a clotting system that makes blood cells become a little more adhesive, a little more sticky, making them cling to arterial walls," says Dr. Pinto.

There's evidence that in some, the accumulation of homocysteine may be caused by a genetic defect, while in others, it's simply the result of a vitamin B12 deficiency. Such clotting and homocysteine buildup also seem to occur during folate and B6 deficiencies.

Because vitamin B12 is also important for the production of red blood cells, a severe deficiency, called pernicious anemia, can lower energy levels. "When you take B12, if you do have so-called tired blood (a decreased number of red blood cells), almost immediately you will see a burst of activity in the bone marrow--more cells--and that will mean more oxygen-carrying capacity to tissues," says Dr. Pinto.

Because vitamin B12 is found in animal products, vegans--strict vegetarians who avoid dairy products and eggs as well as meats--are at risk for becoming B12-deficient. In fact, one study documented cases of children of vegans whose growth was stunted because they did not get adequate B12.

And even when they do eat meats and dairy products, nearly one-third of people over age 60 can't extract the vitamin B12 they need from what they eat. That's because their stomachs no longer secrete enough gastric acid, the stuff that breaks down food so that B12 can be stored in the liver and muscles until it's needed. Without gastric acid, even someone who gets adequate amounts of B12 in his diet may become deficient.

Alpha Tinnitus Formulas contain 5mcg Vitamin B12 per serving which is 104% of the %US Daily Value as recommended by the FDA.